1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electric coffee makers.
2. Description of Prior Art
There are a number of types of electric coffee maker that depend upon having access to recharge the coffee maker with coffee grounds, to re-charge a water reservoir, and to remove a carafe to pour coffee into cups. It has already been proposed to design coffee makers that can be supported below a shelf or more typically under a kitchen cabinet so as not to take up space on a work top when in use.
This invention relates particularly to such so-called xe2x80x98Under-the-cabinetxe2x80x99 coffee makers, which are typically arranged having a housing for a water reservoir of the coffee maker to be positioned at one side of a brew basket and a carafe stand. This allows the parts to be withdrawn out of or be accessible from a front of the cabinet. This means that the housing must be at least the combined effective width of the reservoir and the carafe, say, otherwise access and removal of the parts is somewhat clumsey. As the depth xe2x80x98under-the-cabinetxe2x80x99 is usually greater than this combined width, it can result in loss of valuable space in the kitchen.
It is an object of the invention to overcome or at least reduce this problem.
According to the invention there is provided an under-the-cabinet coffee maker having principal components comprising a water reservoir, a filter holder and a carafe which are all confined within an effective periphery of and mounted on a horizontal platform and arranged such that these components can be accessible or removed horizontally with respects to the platform, and a support frame having a front side and arranged to be mounted to an underside of a cabinet for rotatably supporting the platform so that the coffee maker can be turned to allow a front access to the components in turn.
The under-the-cabinet coffee maker may include gears mechanically coupling the platform to the support frame.
An operating lever having a gear may be provided for engaging the gears arranged to rotate the platform relative to the support in one or other direction when level is manually swung through a horizontal arc to the left or to the right respectively.
An electric motor may be provided connected to the gears for turning the platform relative to the support frame.
The platform may have upstanding walls that partially surround the principle components.
The platform is preferably circular and the walls upstand from adjacent the periphery of the platform.
Arcuate closure doors for closing off a carafe cavity when the coffee maker is not in use may be provided, in which the doors are arcuate and slidable around respective outsides of the walls.
The under-the-cabinet coffee maker may include a part-annular shaped reservoir that fits at one side of the platform and has base with an outer surface that corresponds generally to the peripheral shape of the platform where it is supported.
Manually operable switches for the motor may be mounted to opposing exposed parts of the platform.